Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Fall/105/Section003/William R. Hobby

Overview
William R. Hobby was a white farmer who turned into a merchant by the onset of the Great Depression. He was an interviewee for the Federal Writer's Project in 1939.

Early Life
William R. Hobby was born around 1881 on a farm in rural North Carolina. He grew up in a loving family and his father always taught him to give back to people. Hobby’s upbringing also led him to be more liberal. He received his high school diploma but decided not to go to college in order to follow his father’s footsteps and farm. He also decided to farm because his lifelong sweetheart, Martha, who was his neighbor. The two got married when Hobby was 20 and began their life together.

Adulthood and Career
After marrying Martha, Hobby moved into his parent’s house with her and had their first child, a boy. 6 weeks later, they moved into a house on a 35-acre farm that they lived on for 18 years. 5 more children were born, including 4 girls and another boy. The family was happy, however, financial troubles and difficulty raising the kids caused them to move to Raleigh for better pay around 1920. Declining salaries and uncertainty in farming due to industrialization caused them to move there. Hobby worked at his brother’s transfer business for 13 years in Raleigh and was very successful. Martha unfortunately died of pneumonia in their 9th year there. Hobby took to a 1 year stretch of harsh alcoholism due to his sadness of his wife’s passing. Despite Prohibition, he and others paid high prices for alcohol as consumption was at 60-70% of pre-prohibition levels. Hobby met Gladys, a 7th grade schoolteacher in Raleigh who he took interest in. As Hobby got to know her and build a relationship, she helped him quit drinking. The two got married in 1931, two years after Martha’s death. The kids opposed the marriage, but it sent Hobby on the right track as he opened his own store in 1933. Hobby’s previous success in the transfer business combined with New Deal relief and the resilience of the grocery store market allowed him to buy an old store. Even with the depression, Hobby still made good money because people needed groceries. At the time of his interview in 1939, Hobby was 6 years into his grocery store business and his all of his kids were married and living their own lives, except one, Jarvis. His death date and location are unknown.

Farms in the 1900's
The landscape of farms in America changed dramatically in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. As America industrialized, farms became more controlled by industry rather than the landowners themselves. This had negative effects on farmers as railroads and grain services charged high prices for their services. Additionally, formerly self-sufficient farmers relied on industry now for their livelihood which created much uncertainty. Some farmers salaries decreased, like William Hobby’s. This became a problem for many farmers when they had to manage money more carefully because many lacked the education needed to do so. Rural schools were not the large public schools with many resources seen in cities. Many were, “One room, a square or rectangle, with long windows on one or two sides.” Their education was meant to prepare them for life in the community as a farmer. Those skills didn’t apply to an industrialized urban life. Health in rural areas was also a problem because of the distance away from high quality services. Exposure to chemical, biological, physical, and mechanical hazards through farming also causes higher rates of diabetes and delayed diagnoses on critical diseases.

The New Deal in North Carolina
In 1929, buildup of consumer debt due to credit spending and the crash of the stock market sparked the Great Depression. 3 years later in 1932, FDR was elected and implemented programs to help the country recover financially called the New Deal. In North Carolina, $440 million was brought in by New Deal programs by 1938. The most successful program was the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) which helped curb the overproduction of crops by paying farmers to do so. In business, the National Recovery Administration (NRA) provided short term economic benefits to businesses and industries which raised short term profits and wages. Additionally, the grocery store industry survived the Depression well as that “grocery store sales did not” respond to expected deflation during the Depression. By 1940 once all financial stimulus made its way to NC, unemployment had dropped to 8.8 percent, the best in the nation after a rocky start with New Deal programs.